Jeremiah Part 45

JOAB

No one, Lord King. Nor anywhere throughout the palace.

ZEDEKIAH

So I alone hold vigil. Why should all the burden be laid upon me? All the walls of the city, all the towers of care? Get me wine.

[JOAB fills the goblet once more. ZEDEKIAH drains it and flings it away.

With a groan he lies down again. All is still save for the murmur of the fountain. ZEDEKIAH, who has been lying motionless on the bed, now very quietly sits up in the gloom. Crouching like a wild beast about to spring, he listens intently. Then he suddenly screams]

ZEDEKIAH

Some one is speaking. I hear a voice which drones unendingly. I have given orders that none shall speak in my house. The voice is chanting.

But I have forbidden that any should sing under my roof. Do ye not hear it?

JOAB

I hear nothing, Lord.

NEHEMIAH

No sound has reached me.

ZEDEKIAH

[Glares at the two lads. Crouching he listens for a moment, and breaks forth again] I hear it, I tell you; an interminable monotone. Listen, Joab, here where I am listening. It is somewhere beneath us, burrowing like a mole in the darkness of my slumber, devouring my sleep. Canst not hear, lad?

JOAB

[Listens intently for a moment, and then shudders] I hear a voice rising from the depths. Like the voice of one singing. The spirits of the deep are awake beneath the house. The voice laments and moans like a caged beast.

NEHEMIAH

Perchance it is but the wind moaning through a cranny.

ZEDEKIAH

I hear words; I feel them without understanding them. Who dares to sing by night in my house? Is it so well with my slaves that they must sing while I toss sleepless? Away, Joab, and silence the disturber.

[JOAB hastens out. ZEDEKIAH crouches, listening. He seems at first to hear something. Then he raises his head, and subsequently lowers it to listen once more. Suddenly three dull blows are heard. The king listens eagerly. He draws a breath of relief]

G.o.d be praised, the voice is stilled.

[JOAB reenters with troubled mien]

Who was talking?

JOAB

[Trembling] I know not, Lord, I did not find him. As I neared the marketplace, the noise of singing came to me louder, rising as it were from the depths of the earth. I followed the direction of the sound.

There was no one singing in the marketplace. The utterance had a hollow ring, as if it came from a well or from a pit. Now I could hear the words, and they were terrible. Thrice did I strike the ground with the haft of my spear. Then was the Gehenna silent.

ZEDEKIAH

What were the words?

JOAB

[Shuddering] I dare not repeat them.

ZEDEKIAH

Tell me the words, I command thee.

JOAB

It was blasphemy that rose from the pit.

ZEDEKIAH

Repeat the words, if you fear my anger.

JOAB

[Complies. His voice rises in a psalm]

I have forsaken mine house, I have cast off mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul Into the hand of her enemies.

My tears run down like a river day and night, For grievous is the affliction Of the daughter of my people.

ZEDEKIAH

[With a loud cry] Jeremiah! Always Jeremiah.

JOAB

[Continuing to chant as if inspired]

He hath given up into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces; They have made a noise in the house of the Lord, As in the day of a solemn feast.

He hath ...

ZEDEKIAH

Be still, be still. I will hear no more. Always Jeremiah, and again Jeremiah. Wherever I go he stands at the cross roads; his challenge rings behind all my doings; he forces his way into my dreams, and feeds my indecision. How can I outrun this terrible shadow? He cries to me even from the pit. Who will free me from him?

JOAB

Lord, if he be thine enemy, say the word ... [He makes a movement with his spear]